What Is Hitler A Functionalist Or Intentionalists

November 11, 1918 - World War I ended with German defeat. February 24, 1920 - The National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazi Party) was founded. January 20, 1933 - Adolf Hitler was sworn in as Chancellor. January 30, 1942 - The Final Solution fell into place. These dates have similarities that forever changed the history of Germany, and ignited a long starting argument. Historians worldwide have dedicated their research to unveiling how the most devastating event in German history, the Holocaust, was set in motion. The debate is two sided: intentionalists versus functionalists. An intentionalist describes himself or herself as one who believes Hitler had previous intentions to commit genocide, while a functionalist describes himself or
herself as one who believes the Holocaust was a last minute decision, and the result of a chaotic political atmosphere. However, the functionalists’ stance is more unstable than that of the intentionalists, because functionalists believe that at the start of World War II Hitler had not made a decision as to whether the “Jewish Problem” would be fixed. In actuality, Hitler had ideas to annihilate the Jews long before the creation of the Nazi Party, which were later published in his book, Mein Kampf. The debate can be settled by facts that prove intentionalism as the more reasonable perception of the origin of the Final Solution, because Hitler did, in fact, have previous intentions to commit genocide.
Hitler blamed the Jews for his country’s embarrassment in 1918. Plans endlessly chased through his head, where he wondered what could be done in response to the Jews. He knew how nameless he was at the time, and did not possess the credibility to pursue action against the Jews (Hitler 207). He later created a name that people would cringe at for years to come. Once he created the Nazi Party and rose to power, he announced that he would crush any resistance by all means necessary. “I am not a chancellor like Bismarck, who was just the Kaiser’s minister. I have my own Party! I am the Führer! What qualities should a Führer possess? Above all a name that is constantly on everyone's lips. For that reason I have introduced the greeting ‘Heil Hitler!’, which features my name,” (Parparov 3).
Intentionalists argue that Hitler labelled the Jews as a target and planned to launch a murderous war of genocide and destruction of human life because he desired it and believed it was in Germany’s best interest.
He suggested that had thousands of Jews been killed during World War II, the lives of German soldiers would have been saved (Hitler 679). In September 1919, Hitler’s first recorded concerns toward the “Jewish Problem” were written in a letter in which he describes Judaism as a race, not a religion. In the letter, he states that the final aim, which could only be attained in a government of national strength, had to be the removal of Jews altogether (Kershaw 89). Hitler declared the Jews as a serious threat to humankind, and insisted that they possessed a talent for corrupting culture practiced by other races. He compared the Jews to a germ: not only are they hard to get rid of, but they continue to spread as soon as a host provides them a location to reside. The effect of their existence is like that of parasites, wherever they appear, the host people disappear after a period of time (Pringle
4).
From the beginning of his career in 1919, Hitler pursued two interconnected goals: to restore Germany’s greatness, and, in doing so, avenge and make good of the country’s disgrace in 1918. The goals could be only attained, as he believed, by war. In his eyes, the Jews were responsible for these most terrible crimes; for the “stab in the back” of 1918, the capitulation, the revolution, and for Germany’s misfortune. Hitler believed the Jews blocked Germany’s path and posed the most dangerous threat to his plans. He insisted that if they went to war, it would be against the Jews (Kershaw 91).
Before Hitler’s rise to power and a few days after the liberation of Munich, Hitler was ordered to report to the examining commission troubled with revolutionary events in the Second Infantry Regiment, which was his first purely political activity.
Only a few weeks afterward, he received orders to attend a course that was held for armed forces members. There, he was taught the fundamentals of civic thinking. Given the opportunity to meet like-minded comrades with whom he could discuss the situation of the unplanned movement, Hitler found greater value to the junction. All of his comrades were convinced that Germany could no longer be saved, a whole series of preconditions were lacking. Hitler had no intentions of joining a ready-made party, but wished to be the founder of his own (Hitler 220). Within their group, they discussed what needed to be acted upon. The basic ideas created that day were the same as those later pursued in the German Workers’ Party (Hitler
208).
To gain governmental knowledge, Hitler attended a lecture on the breaking of interest slavery, he knew that it was a theoretical truth, which would inevitably be of vast importance for the future of the German people. The development of Germany was much too clear in his eyes (Hitler 213). The longer he pondered it, the more confident he grew into the idea the he could organize the rise of the nation, but never through the political parliamentary parties that were currently in power. There was no need for a new election slogan, but a need for the proclamation of a new philosophy, which he would campaign with to come into power (Hitler 223).
Although Hitler had been able to remove his opponents from the race, he was still not the sole ruler in Germany. The aged President, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, stood in his way. For the ambitious Hitler, it was unbearable to have to stand in the shadow of a man like that. Hitler was eager to make his dreams reality. After Hindenburg's death, Hitler appointed himself head of state and Commander in Chief of the armed forces. Now, he had complete power and had Germany in the tight grasp of his hand. In his first Reichstag speech following Hindenburg’s death, he declared that he would not claim the presidential salary. This declaration was designed to convince the German people that Hitler was a selfless being (Paparov 7). Through his appointment as chancellor, Hitler completed his first steps in annihilating the Jews by gaining power and winning the trust of his people. Now, all he needed to do was secretly and slowly proceed with the genocidal plans in his head.
In 1933, the year Hitler came into power, the population of Jews in Germany numbered around 525,000, which was close to one percent of the total German population. Throughout the next six years, Nazis undertook actions that expelled them from Germany. They dismissed Jews from business life in Nazi Germany and the territories around it (History.com). As early as 1936, Goering, a German politician, military leader, and leading member of the Nazi Party, announced that Germany would deal with the Jews “one way or another.” As German expansionism led to acute tension in foreign affairs and the threat of war grew closer, Hitler evidently began to dwell upon the consequences for the Jews. “The Jews must get out of Germany, yes, out of the whole of Europe,” Hitler told Goebbels at the end of November 1937. “This will take some time yet, but will and must happen” (Kershaw 103).
Most historians agree there is no “big bang” theory in the creation of the Final Solution. It is generally accepted that the decision-making process was prolonged and accumulative (Browning 213). According to Hitler in his book Mein Kampf, “I am not one of those people who begin something today and lay it down tomorrow. This very conviction among others was the main reason why it was so hard for me to make up my mind.” A commonly found view among the general public, but also in many scholarly works, is that little to none was known by the Germans about the extermination, and that only unsustainable rumors about the Jews’ fate circulated throughout the country. “They went on believing that the Jews had just been segregated and led an existence in the east pretty much like the one they had in Germany,” (Bankier 102). Historians heard the same account from a socialist Jewess, who heard rumors about the fate of the transports prior to 1943 (Bankier 103). After years of hard work and dreaming, Hitler’s plan to eliminate the Jews became reality. There may have been a “big bang” in the creation of the world, but not in the creation of the Holocaust, as most historians agree. If there was no “big bang”, then Hitler had to have planned the genocide before the start of World War II. When Hitler was sworn in as chancellor, many Germans believed they had found a savior for their nation; little did they know how wrong they were. They were blinded by their optimistic views and hope for a better nation to realize Hitler’s pseudo act. In the same way, functionalists are blinded by the loss of documentation to recognize that the facts are right in front of them. The facts that prove Hitler was the sole proprietor of the Holocaust, and had slowly worked on his plans to commit genocide since the country’s defeat in 1918. While the chaotic political atmosphere may have pushed The Final Solution into action, Hitler had subconsciously planned the genocide for twenty-three years, just as intentionalists believe.